Loretta Lynn Asked Chapel Hart for a Favor Before Her Death — Now the Band Is Following Through
Sometimes you get a request you can't refuse, especially if that request came from the late country legend Loretta Lynn. Of course, when the star reached out to Chapel Hart this summer via a public Facebook post, the band was a little busy blazing their way through America's Got Talent Season 17 as a fan favorite, but the fulfillment of Lynn's wish is now in the works. Chapel Hart has announced it will take on a remake of her song "Fist City," released in 1968.
The ask came less than three months before Lynn passed away in her Tennessee home on October 4. "I love it, ladies. Now I'm wondering what you might be able to do with one of my songs! Chapel Hart #AGT #breakingthrough #girlpower #stillwomanenough," Lynn posted on Facebook on July 20 after seeing the band's Golden Buzzer-earning AGT audition, an original spin on Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.”
Earlier this month, upon hearing the news of her death, Chapel Hart joined many other country stars posting tributes to Lynn on social media. On October 4, they shared on Facebook:
"Sweet Sweet Loretta 🥺🙏 words cannot describe how heartbroken we are today. We were literally just working through our song for you yesterday on the road, we think you’d be stoked to know we are EXTENDING 'Fist City' 😄🥰 we know you had to go but don’t you worry mama, you left country music in good & capable hands! Your wings, we know, are Gorgeous/Fabulous so go on and Rest High on the Mountain."
Along with their announcement, Chapel Hart posted a video of the band covering another Loretta Lynn classic, "You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man)," with Devynn Hart singing lead.
[facebook align='center' autoplay='0']https://fb.watch/g5BaNGwFMw/[/facebook]
Band member Danica Hart spoke more about the upcoming remake during the band's appearance at the Grand Ole Opry on October 8. “We sat down and we decided we’re going to redo ‘Fist City,’ but we’re not going to do it tonight," she told the audience (instead they covered Lynn's "Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’" with Trea Swindle singing lead). "We did tell them we got to come back here and debut it… . We got to do it here at the Opry.”
Granted, remaking Lynn's "Fist City" is an altogether different proposition than Chapel Hart's twist on Parton's "Jolene." The song "You Can Have Him, Jolene" is not so much a remake as it is an empowered woman's very different reaction to the same circumstances. Like "Jolene," Lynn's "Fist City" also addresses a temptress, but there are no desperate pleas and no pulling punches (literally): "I'm here to tell you gal to lay off a my man/If you don't want to go to fist city," goes the chorus.
[youtube align='center' autoplay='0']https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skacPVsLleU[/youtube]
“One of the dilemmas that we had is that Loretta, she would have said it exactly the way Chapel Hart would have said it," Danica said. "We don’t have much of a filter.”
Since the band has described the upcoming remake as "extending" the song, it's possible the new take on "Fist City" will be a longer version of Lynn's original versus a complete redo—and we're pretty sure it will remain true to the original's take-no-prisoners attitude. However the band tackles the challenge, we can't wait to hear it.
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